Dinner at the Lucases
by Eryn Goldbergg
Summary: Macy is in for a wild ride when she's asked to design the stage for the JONAS summer tour. Half of the reason she was chosen was because a certain member of JONAS has a crush on her. What will happen at dinner when Nick's ready to tell her how he feels?
1. Chapter 1

"So, Macy, how's life?" Nick asked Macy for the fifth time, who was leaning over the ledge of the empty school tennis court.

"It's fine," Macy sighed, not realizing who she was talking to. Nick was staring at how her short tennis skirt rode up on her thighs in—he blinked and forced himself to glance up at her eyes.

"Macy," Nick repeated. "It's me, Nick,"

Macy turned sharply and gasped, nearly falling of the ledge. Nick grabbed her hips.

"Macy, don't DO that," Nick cried, his hands still on her hips. His eyes followed his hands and soon, he was staring at the curve of her waist. God, she had all the curves in all the right—Nick moved his hands and soon, his eyes. Macy giggled. She had been watching him ogle her the whole time.

"Now, that is just ridiculous," Macy laughed. "You're so loveless you resort to ogling me?"

"Wow," he blushed. "You saw that?"

"It was impossible not to see it," Macy stopped giggling and started blushing, realizing the seriousness of the situation. "You were—"

"I was NOT undressing you with my eyes!" Nick cried defensively, sure that was what she was going to say.

Macy gave a small smirk. And then it turned in to a really big smile. And then it turned into an uncontrollable giggling fit. Nick couldn't help but smile seeing the teenage girl curled into a ball in the middle of an empty tennis court, giggling out of her mind.

"Macy, are you okay?" Nick said, letting out a snort of laughter at her antics. Then his face fell. Oh. My. God. Since when did Macy Misa have breasts? They were so perfect and little and--Nick tried to focus on her face instead of her…her…body.

"Sorry," Macy gasped through her giggling fit. "You just said—"

Her sentence was interrupted as her giggles faded away. "Sorry, Nick. When I find something's funny, I laugh…a lot."

Nick smiled slightly. "I've noticed."

Macy awkwardly sighed. "Yeah…"

"Listen, Macy," Nick said. "I know you're good at graphic design and you know, designing sets and stages on the computer…"

"Yeah," Macy asked, her eyes widening.

"And I wanted to know if maybe you wanted to design the stage for the JONAS tour this summer,"

"Oh, my gosh! I would _love _that," Macy said.

"Great," Nick's smile was now a full blown grin. "I guess I can just call you and we'll meet with the people from the record company, and stuff."

"Wow," Macy breathed. "That would be so amazing. Do you, um, do you have my number?"

"Um, no," Nick grabbed a marker from his backpack. "You can just—"

"Right," Macy nodded. Realizing she was still sitting on the floor of the clay court, she stood up and brushed herself off. "5, 5, 5. 8, 1, 4. 3, 2, 6, 8."

"Thanks," Nick put the marker back into his backpack and furrowed his brows slightly at Macy, deciding what to do. "Would—Would you like to come over for dinner tonight? At my place?"

"Dinner? Tonight?" Macy blushed. "Sure, I would love to."

"I'll pick you up at 7, okay?" Nick smiled. Macy shook her head.

"I'll walk to your house," Macy put her finger to Nick's lips when he started to protest. "I insist. It's only about two blocks, right?"

"Right." Nick nodded and waved as he walked off. "Tonight, right?"

"Yeah," Macy giggled. Nick smiled, not sure why she was giggling, and closed the door on his way out.

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Macy paced the room in a towel, wet from her shower, her phone plastered to her ear. "Stella, I have nothing to wear! I'm going over to dinner at the Lucas house, and—"

"Whoa, what?" Stella asked. "You know what, never mind, I'll dig it out of you later. Um, is it casual or dressy?"

"I dunno, THAT'S THE PROBLEM!" Macy cried.

"Did you ask?" Stella's voice crackled over the phone. Macy blinked.

"Um, was I supposed to?"

"MACY! Ugh, whatever. Okay, um, it's a Friday, so I'm guessing casual. Do you have a skirt?"

"Stella…"Macy whined.

"C'mon, Macy," Stella sounded like a school teacher. "Do you have one?"

"Yes," Macy grumbled.

"Describe it." Stella demanded.

"It's white and it's, I guess, pleated, and it's, oh my God, Stella, no! This skirt is way too short!"

"Shut up, Macy." Stella said. "You wear those cute little tennis kick skirts and you're complaining about a white, pleated, probably only just above the knee, skirt?"

"Yeah," was Macy's simple answer.

"Just put the skirt on!" Stella cried. "Okay?"

"Okay," Macy whimpered, placing the skirt on her bed.

"Did you wash your hair when you showered?" Stella checked.

"Ew, Stella, of course I did!" Macy cried.

"Alright, alright, just checking. Now, how about a shirt?"

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"How do I look?" Joe asked, running a comb through his dark hair.

"You look fine, Joe." Nick said, tugging on his shirt for the last time. "It's me. I hate my outfit."

Kevin gasped. "Nick! It's from the StellaVator!" Kevin glanced around. "Patent pending,"

"I know, I just don't think I made the right choice. Did I not push the right buttons?" Nick asked his reflection.

"Um, no." Kevin said, walking over to Nick. "I don't think that's the issue here."

"What do you mean?" Nick shook his head, trying to ignore his brother.

"You like her. Like, like-like her." Joe said. Nick rolled his eyes for believability.

"What?" He asked. "No. This dinner is strictly business."

"Is that why you pushed 'Dinner Date' on the StellaVator?" Joe asked. "Patent pending?"

"You guys really have to stop that 'patent pending' thing," Nick said, trying to change the subject.

"Stop trying to change the subject," Kevin cried. "We know you like Macy."

"So, dude," Joe shrugged. "Why don't you ask her out?"

Kevin tugged off his trendy silk scarf and replaced it with a silk scarf covered in duckies. Joe blinked and looked at Nick again.

"Okay, so, if I did like-like her, which I DON'T, how would I go about it?" Nick said. "She nearly flat lines us whenever we come near her."

"Well, first of all, we know you do like-like her," Joe said. "So, just ask her after dinner when she's washing her hands or something,"

"What?" Nick said slowly. "What are you—oh, my God, you're a FREAK, Joe."

"Ugh. You know what I mean," Joe replied, flopping onto the couch.

"Nick! Joe! Kevin! Macy's here,"

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"Macy, you look," Nick breathed. "You look—"

"Like a girl!" Joe cried. Nick elbowed him in the ribs and he winced in pain.

Macy blushed. Well, only because Stella made her over. Even though she was complaining, she wore the white skirt and tank top. And heels. Stella had to actually COME OVER and shove Macy's feet into them.

"Sorry, I didn't know what to wear, and you all look so casual, and--does that scarf have duckies on it, Kevin?—wow, you guys look great and…I didn't know what to wear."

"It's perfectly okay, Macy. Come on in." Mrs. Lucas laughed at Macy's nervousness. "You look beautiful. And you've always looked like a girl. " She gave Joe a special glare while she led Macy inside the house.

"Hi, Macy," Frankie waved from his pizza box fort. "You look pretty."

Macy blushed again. "Wow, thanks, Frankie."

"My pleasure," Frankie replied. Nick fidgeted. His 9 year old brother was smoother than he was.

"Alright, while the chicken's in the oven," Mrs. Lucas said. "Me and Mr. Lucas AND Frankie—" she paused to look sternly at the pizza fort—"—will leave you guys alone and head upstairs,"

After they left, Kevin turned to Nick and elbowed him.  
"Me and Joe are going to WASH OUR HANDS," Kevin winked at Joe, causing Joe to shudder.

"But I don't need to—"

Kevin made a face, then suddenly farted while sitting on Joe's hand.

"OH, KEVIN, THAT IS JUST—EW!" Joe shuffled away, Kevin behind him. Nick turned to Macy knew that he had to say what he was longing to say since they met.


	2. Chapter 2

"Macy," Nick started. Macy turned to him.

"Yeah?"

Oh, God. Did she have to turn and look at him? Maybe if she had just kept not facing him he would have been fine. Oh, who was he kidding? Either way it was possible for him to generate enough sweat to fill a bucket. The size of the SUN.

"Um, I need to tell you something," Nick tried to look everywhere but her eyes. Wow, she had really pretty eyes. They were chocolate brown and big and sparkly and—Nick tried to focus on the task at hand. Even though the task at hand was extremely painful. Macy watched in intrigue as Nick's face twisted into a grimace.

"What…do you need to tell me?" Macy asked, leaning closer. Nick started to breathe irregularly. She was only about four inches away from him, and she smelled _really _good. Like vanilla and love and everything that was good in this terrible world—_SCREECH! Stop right there, brain. _Nick couldn't believe himself. He was falling apart. BAM! In an instant, he would be like a speck of dust. His nerves would explode like the rest of him if he didn't start talking now.

"So, um, you know how at the tennis court today—"

The oven timer dinged and Mrs. Lucas hurried down the stairs.

"The chicken's done!" She called upstairs, as she pulled it out of the oven. "Yes! It looks perfect!"

"Chicken!" Frankie screamed, running down the stairs. Macy laughed at his antics and then looked back at Nick.

"Isn't he just the cutest thing?"

_No, _Nick thought, _you are. _And did she have to just walk off like that? He couldn't help but stare at her cute little butt just going back and forth and back and—Nick bit down on his lip to stop himself from groaning out loud.

"Wow, bro," Joe said, staring at Nick's face. "You've got it bad,"

"What does he have, Joe?" Kevin asked, excited. Nick closed his eyes. This seemed planned. Oh, God, they weren't going to do the—

Nick shook his head rapidly. "No, please don't, no, no—"

"LOVEBUG!" Joe and Kevin cried. They began to sing 'Lovebug' loudly and obnoxiously.

"Boys!" Mrs. Lucas cried. "Leave your brother alone!"

Macy gave Nick a confused look. Nick shrugged and walked over to her casually. _Don't run over to her, do not run over to her. _He wondered what it would be like to hug her. Her breasts just pushed up against his—STOP! Nick took a seat at the table and considered killing himself with his butter knife. Of course, his mom knowing that sometimes Nick had these kind of girl troubles that escalated in to more…serious cases, removed all the sharp knives from Nick's reach. He felt like a baby when she did that. Even Frankie was allowed near sharp knives. But then again, what girl troubles could Frank the Tank have?

"I'm having girl troubles," Frankie shared with the table. Mr. Lucas stopped mid chicken carve, Mrs. Lucas nearly dropped the bowl of mashed potatoes, Joe scoffed, Kevin rested his head on the table, but Nick noticed that Macy just looked at him like he was a guy her age.

"Really?" Macy asked. Frankie, surprised that anyone actually listened to him, nodded.

"Yeah, I like this girl, and I don't know if she likes me back," Frankie said. Nick nearly jumped out of his seat to go hug Frankie for his dilemma. Hopefully, Macy would help him.

"Who?" Joe asked, curious. Macy elbowed him.

"Don't ask him that!" Macy said.

"No, it's okay," Frankie looked at Macy. "I like Macy,"

That did it. Mr. Lucas tried not to laugh and kept carving the chicken, Mrs. Lucas rolled her eyes, Joe scoffed again, Kevin's head flipped up and he started screeching with laughter, and once again, Nick noticed what Macy did. And it wasn't something he liked. She leaned over and kissed Frankie on the cheek. She put her perfect lips right on his dirty, little, 9 year old, cheek. Nick practically exploded.

"Macy, can I talk to you over THERE, please,"

Macy, who was giggling at Frankie's wide eyed(no doubt ecstatic) expression, nodded and followed Nick upstairs and past the StellaVator.

"Macy, I have something to tell you that I've really been waiting to tell you,"

"Yeah?"

"I think I like you," Nick said. Macy blushed.

"Cool," she said. "I like you, too,"

"No, no," Nick shook his head. "I—"

"Hey, we're playing Deepest, Darkest Secret!" Kevin cried from the bedroom. Nick's face twisted into one of confusion. How did they get from the kitchen to the bedroom so fast? He reluctantly walked into the bedroom, Macy behind him.

"Okay, so here's what you do," Joe said as soon as they sat down cross-legged. "We take turns spinning the bottle and whoever it lands on has to tell their deepest, darkest—"

"Secret. We get it," Nick groaned. Joe looked at him indignantly.

"Well, then," Joe huffed. "I'll start,"

The bottle spun and spun and it landed on Kevin. Kevin shrieked.

"NO!" Kevin said. "Ok, fine. I have a crush on Miss Kelly from Science,"

"No way!" Joe cried. "The hot 20 year old teacher?"

"Yeah," Kevin sighed. "She has the most amazing teeth."

"Teeth?" Joe shrieked. "You're looking at teeth when Nick here is looking at—"

"JOE," Nick glared at his older brother.

"That is so going up everywhere on the Internet," Joe chuckled. "Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace, here I come,"

Kevin groaned and spun the bottle. It landed on Macy. Macy bit her lip.

"Okay, you guys can't tell my mom," Macy started. Nick's eyes bugged out. Where did this side of Macy come from?

"Juicy," Joe said, snickering.

"I have…a belly button ring," Macy said. After 52 seconds of dead, awed silence, Joe spoke.

"That's hot," Joe nodded his approval.

"Maybe, but not to my mom," Macy replied, shuddering. "So, you cannot tell her. Deal?"

Nick found himself sweating. Wow. Macy Misa with a belly button ring? So hot. Nick watched Macy's eyes flit from brother to brother, wondering what the body piercing looked like.

"Okay, fine, deal," Joe gave in. "But we have to get to see it,"

Macy's shoulders slumped. "Please don't make me do this,"

"Sorry," Joe shrugged. Macy slowly lifted her shirt up just enough to see a band of skin. Her stomach was toned, Nick could tell. And that belly button ring was just…wow. Nick could feel himself getting warmer. The ring was a sort of dangling one, and the charm on it was her zodiac sign, Sagittarius, a bow and arrow. After what seemed like two nanoseconds, Macy lowered her shirt, blushing the whole time.

"When did you get it done?" Kevin asked, fascinated with Macy's newfound spunk.

"My Sweet 16 birthday party. Stella told me it would look cute." Macy said. "She has one, too."

Joe's mouth dropped. "REALLY?"

"Just kidding!" Macy cried, laughing at Joe's disappointed face. "Stella talked me into it, but she refused to get one. And please," she paused to give a pleading look to each of the brothers, "no telling my mom. She'll kill me."

"Okay," Nick said. He wondered what else she had. A tattoo? A secret piercing…somewhere ELSE?

"Macy's turn to spin," Joe cried. Nick nodded. Macy spun the bottle and it landed on her again.

"Are you kidding me?" She asked the bottle. "I just told you my deepest, darkest, one,"

"Well, give us your second deepest, darkest, secret," Kevin said.

Macy tapped her finger to her chin and sighed.

"Well, alright," Macy said.

"YES!" Joe cried. "Oh My Gosh, I should be writing this down,"

"I like a boy," Macy started. "Like, like-like him."

"Oh, no kidding," Joe rolled his eyes up to the ceiling, then rolled them back towards Nick.

"Who?" Nick blurted, then bit his lip. He really shouldn't have said that out loud.

"Well," Macy blushed. "He's, um, sitting in this room,"

"I KNEW IT!" Kevin hung his head. "It's me, isn't it? Darn these devilishly breathtaking looks!"

Joe's eyes found the ceiling again.

"I'm not answering that," Macy said, giggling. Kevin pursed his lips and looked away. Yeah, he knew it wasn't him. Joe gasped with a sudden realization of who it was. He glanced at Nick and then looked at Kevin. Nick turned red.

"Is it me?" Nick mouthed sheepishly. Macy blushed again and stood up.

"Um, I'll just head to the bathroom," Macy dashed off towards the bathroom.

"Follow her," Joe whispered.

"She has a BELLY BUTTON RING," Kevin added, hoping that would somehow push Nick to go. Joe turned to him.

"What?" Joe whispered hoarsely. Kevin shrugged.

"Oh, alright," Nick said, and walked the same path Macy had taken to go to the bathroom. He knew she really wasn't using it, but he knocked anyway. "Macy?"

"Um, yeah?" Macy said, yanking off her heels. Ah. Much better. As she went to open the door, the corner of her shirt caught in the door hinge.

"Darn it," she whispered. Macy yanked the shirt over her head, left in her bra and the skirt.

_Wow, I look like a prostitute, _Macy thought to herself. Nick jiggled the door handle again, impatient. This time the door opened, and a very embarrassed Macy stood in the doorway. Nick's pupils dilated about 4 centimeters and he stepped back a couple of inches.

Nick looked down at his pants, which were starting to feel tighter, and looked back up at Macy. Oh God. She was so beautiful. His eyes traveled down from her neck to her perfect breasts just peeking out of her bra to her toned stomach (Oh, that belly button ring…) to her long legs down to the tips of her toes. His breathing quickened as he stepped closer to Macy and wrapped his fingers around her wrist.

"Um, Nick?" Macy blushed. He gently pushed her against the wall.

"Yeah," Nick breathed.

"What are you doing?" Macy whispered. Suddenly, Nick crashed his lips into hers passionately and she forgot about what she was wearing and what she was saying and what he was doing. After a two second hesitation, she started to kiss back.

"I really like you, too," Nick said in between kisses. "I mean, if you like—"

"I do," Macy clarified quickly. She did NOT want this to stop. Soon, they were inside the bathroom with the door slightly ajar, making out fiercely on the floor.

"Um, guys," Kevin said, knocking sheepishly. "I can see you,"

"Hey, Mom says to at least come downstairs for desser—WHOA!" Joe cried. Nick pulled away slowly and turned to Joe, irritated.

"Thanks, Joe," Nick said. "Thanks a lot,"

"You're welcome," Joe squeaked, suddenly noticing Macy's ensemble. "Um, Macy, you—"

"I know," Macy blushed, still underneath Nick. "Sorry, my shirt caught in the door hinge and—"

"Yeah," Joe interrupted awkwardly. "I think I can decipher what happens next,"

"Weellll," Kevin started. "Me and Joe are just going to head downstairs and eat dessert. Come on, Joe,"

"I'll go," Joe said. "You won't have to fart on me again,"

After their departure, Nick sighed dreamily. It felt so good to—

"Um, Nick, could you…" Macy gestured to their position and Nick immediately stood up and helped Macy up.

"That was…something," Macy said.

"Yeah, it was," Nick blushed.

"Hey, I'm, um, a regular down at Busboys and Poets," Macy said. "Would you, you know, consider going there tomorrow night, or something? With…me? It's music and poetry readings, you know. Jazzy stuff."

"Sure," Nick answered quickly. "We'll call it a date,"

"Yeah, I guess I'll just meet you there," Macy rocked back and forth on her bare heels. "I'm always at the back table."

"I'll see you there, um, tomorrow. And maybe after we could go get some pizza or something,"

"Yeah," Macy smiled. "That would be cool. So I'll see you tomorrow at eight."

"Cool." Nick said. "You might want to, um, put a shirt on,"

"Right," Macy said. "I'll call Stella right away,"

"You can wear something of Stella's," Nick replied. "She always loads the StellaVator with some of her clothes. You just need the special password."

Macy bit her lip. "And do you have the special password?"

"Yeah." Nick smiled. "I saw her entering it the other day, and I just couldn't forget it."

"Oh,"

"Kind of like…how I can't forget your smile."

Macy blushed and looked down. "Smooth,"

"I try to be," Nick laughed. He looked up at Macy, and knew that tomorrow night, something was going to happen. He wasn't sure what it was…but he knew it was definitely something good.


	3. Chapter 3

Nick felt embarrassed as he knocked on the door of the Misas' house. He had no idea where Busboys and Poets was, so he was going to try and get the directions from Macy before she left.

"It's open!" Mrs. Misa's voice called from inside. Nick pushed open the door and suddenly gasped. The place was like Martha Stewart's TV show came to life. The kitchen was perfect and all white with stainless steel appliances, the house had cute little decorations like Macy's baby pictures in pop art colors hung mosaic style everywhere, and a giant plasma screen TV in the living room playing home movies on repeat.

"Mrs. Misa?" Nick said. "It's me, Nick Lucas."

"Right…" Mrs. Misa said, peeking out of the kitchen, not really knowing who it was. "Oh! I get it now, you're Macy's little friend from school. In the band, right? Well, sit down, don't act like a stranger. Not like I'm calling you a stranger or anything. Macy knows you, and any friend of Macy's is a friend of mine, right?"

Nick stifled a laugh. The origin of Macy's nervousness was a little clearer to him now. "Um, right…"

"Well, Macy will be down in a couple of minutes, I'm guessing," Mrs. Misa went back to cleaning up the kitchen. "You can just sit down in the living room,"

Nick took a seat gingerly on the all white couch, knowing that if he soiled anything, Mrs. Misa could very well come after him with kitchen appliances. He turned his direction to the TV. Various home movies, mostly of Mrs. Misa sitting in front of Macy's crib or bed while Macy was sleeping, talking about "What Macy did today" and "What Macy said today" played over and over until it came to a new video.

_"Macy, say hi to the camera," Mrs. Misa said in the video. A little girl with chestnut brown hair, giant brown eyes, and a sparkling smile bounded up to the camera on a red bouncy ball. It was obviously Macy._

_"Boing! Boing!" Macy cried. "Boing! Hi, Mommy! Boing! Boing!"_

"_Macy, how old are you today?" Mrs. Misa asked Macy. Macy opened her mouth wide like a giant O._

_"5!" Macy yelled. "5 years old! Oops!"_

_In her excitement, the 5 year old had thrown her bouncy ball into the air. The cover for the air vent dropped to the ground._

"_Sorry, Mommy," Macy said, looking down at the vent cover. "BOING! BOING!"_

_She hopped away. Mrs. Misa turned the camera on herself._

"_That was Macy on her 5__th__ birthday," she sighed, exasperated._ The video cut to a tape of Macy in the bathtub. She was only 3. Nick's smile turned into a grin. Wasn't she just the cutest little thing?

_"Hey, Macy," Mrs. Misa cooed to the little baby. Macy started to laugh._

"_Mommy, what this?" Macy held up a little rubber ducky in her tiny hand and examined it._

_"That's a duck," Mrs. Misa took the duck from Macy and started making quacking noises. Macy was in hysterics. She started hitting the water with her hands._

"_Again," Macy said when Mrs. Misa was finished. Then she noticed the camera. "Mommy, what that?"_

_"A camera," Mrs. Misa brought the camera closer. Macy tapped the lens with her tiny fingers._

"_What it do?" Macy asked the camera. She was breathing into the lens, fogging it up, and when it became clear again, she'd breath on it over and over. Mrs. Misa finally pulled her away._

_"It remembers things," Mrs. Misa said. Macy tilted her head and went back to shaking the duck._

"_Ducky?" Macy asked the rubber duck. "Ducky, talk. Talk, ducky! TALK!"_

_She dropped the duck into the water and started to bawl._

"_Why ducky no talk to me, Mommy?" Macy wailed. "WHY?"_

"_Okay, I think that's it for today," Mrs. Misa shut down the camera._

Nick started to laugh. Macy Misa talking to a duck? Even better, demanding it to talk? With other girls, it would have weirded him out a little, but it just made Macy seem even more attractive. Suddenly, Macy jogged downstairs.

"Oh. Nick," Macy tilted her head, making the same confused face the baby Macy made in the video. It only made Nick laugh harder.

"Nick?" Macy ran over to him. "Are you okay? Nick?"

Nick stopped laughing and looked at Macy.

"Why were you—oh, the home movies," Macy blushed. "How much did you see?"

"I saw your fifth birthday and you in the bathtub," Nick was threatening to crack up again. "I never knew someone could get so worked up about a duck,"

Macy playfully punched him in the arm. "Shut up, you. Stella showed me your 2nd birthday cake video. At least I didn't miss my mouth like 5 times."

Nick, surprised that she saw, quickly bounced back. "At least I didn't knock down the air vent cover,"

"That ball disobeyed the law of gravity," Macy defended herself. Nick pointed towards the TV .

"You were cute,"

"Really?" Macy turned bright red. "I was?"

"Yeah," Nick said softly. "And…um…I don't know where Busboys and Poets is,"

"Oh," Macy laughed. "Why don't we just go together? We can take my car,"

"Cool," Nick shrugged. "Or we could take mine. I drove here,"

"You drove two blocks?" Macy's mouth dropped. "Lazy,"

"Maybe," Nick said cheekily.

"Well, let's take mine," Macy smiled. Nick remembered something.

"I have something for you," Nick handed her a note out of his pocket. "Don't read it until I'm gone,"

Macy nodded and pushed it into the pocket of her jeans. Nick leaned close to her ear.

"And you look beautiful," he whispered.

"Thanks," Macy said. Nick shook his head.

"My pleasure," he was proud of himself for that one. Maybe he _was _smoother than Frankie.

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The low lighting in Busboys and Poets was driving Nick up the wall. He couldn't see Macy's face. And even though he hated to admit it, it was driving him nuts. They were sitting in one of the several small booths housed in the jazzy poetry club, and it this was NOT a private night. Everyone was walking past them, saying, "Hey, it's the man from JONAS. Go up there, man." and it was starting to irritate Nick.

"Um, Macy—" Nick started. But he couldn't finish. A hippie guy with blond locks with a goatee sat on a stool in the center of the stage. Instantly, the bongo drum player beat each drum back and forth, back and forth. Nick bit his lip. UGH.

"My name is—"— the goatee man paused to wave his arms dramatically—"What's in a name?"

"Oh, God," Nick muttered. He was one of _those_. They were going to be here ALL NIGHT.

"A name is just a simple word," the nameless poet cried. "One's own personal adjective,"

Nick was about to ask Macy if they could go somewhere more private, but the smile on her face stuck him to his chair. She seemed so fascinated with this screaming poet with facial hair.

"THERE ARE NO SPELLING MISTAKES," The goatee guy jumped up from his stool and started pacing the stage. "All words are names. So as I listen to each poem and the calling of the names of Mother Earth's children, I wonder…if we are all just words…searching for a purpose."

Snapplause immediately followed, and yet another chorus of bongo drum music.

"Macy," Nick whispered. "Can we go somewhere—"

"Hey, what about JONAS dude?" A random voice cried. More snapplause.

"Yeah," Goatee Guy agreed from the stage. "Come on, music guy!"

Nick shook his head. And then he turned to look at Macy. She was nodding at him and he just couldn't take it. How could he say no to her? Well, in many ways, but—Nick shook his head. He was done trying to convince himself that he was not going to do this. Because he was.

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"Um, I wrote this poem," Nick said into the microphone. "For a girl named Macy,"


End file.
